A post template

No image available
/ 19 November 2007

A boost for your child’s education

Government is paying parents to save for their children’s higher education. The Association of Collective Investments — in partnership with the education department — has launched a savings plan for tertiary education where government pays an additional 25% of whatever parents have saved for the year as a bonus to beef up the savings plan, writes Maya Fisher-French.

No image available
/ 19 November 2007

A country on the edge

Even though economic growth is substantial and social service delivery — while not as fast as we want — is reaching millions, Aids will continue to kill hundreds of thousands in South Africa, burdening families and orphaning children. Recent research in Swaziland presents a picture that is disastrous and deteriorating.

No image available
/ 19 November 2007

Brutalised for being on the ‘wrong side’

"This thing of rape," said Colonel Edmond Ngarambe, shifting uneasily on his wooden bench high in the mountains of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, "I can’t deny that happens. We are human beings. But it’s not just us. The Mai Mai, the government soldiers who are not paid, the Rastas do the same thing. And some people sent by our enemies do it to cause anger against us."

No image available
/ 19 November 2007

Tapping into illness

The people of Delmas are suffering from an epidemic that does not officially exist. Despite the death of an infant and the treatment of 690 people in Botleng for diarrhoea in the past two weeks, authorities say they can find no cure for the illness sweeping the area. Residents fear this is a recurrence of an outbreak of typhoid in 2005, which was caused by municipal water being contaminated with human faeces.

No image available
/ 19 November 2007

A gross violation of my rights by the M&G

In September 2006 I sought to prevent the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> from publishing a story detailing allegations of possible fraud, violations of tender rules and contraventions of the Public Finance Management Act that took place while I was head of the South African Post Office, writes Maanda Manyatshe.

No image available
/ 19 November 2007

Strait fight

As the United States increasingly looks to China for help over tackling problem issues such as Iran, Burma and Darfur, concern is growing in Taiwan that the island’s sole international protector may be dropping its guard. The de facto independence of Taiwan, viewed by Beijing as a renegade province, depends in the last resort on American defensive guarantees and arms supplies.

No image available
/ 19 November 2007

Crimes of the state

Three men, three extraordinary stories. One spent 18 years in prison in Uganda, convicted for murdering a neighbour later found to be alive. Another survived 34 years facing execution in Japan. The third became the 100th prisoner on death row to be found innocent and freed in the United States.

No image available
/ 19 November 2007

Poker-faced flirts, all

Friends occasionally come to me for advice, which is odd, because one look at my shambling semi-existence should be enough to convince them I’m in no position to offer guidance on anything. I wouldn’t trust myself to tell someone which end of a cup to drink from. But still they come, writes Charlie Brooker.

No image available
/ 19 November 2007

Hillary forced to strike a delicate balance

As the first serious female president on American television, Mackenzie Allen (played by Geena Davis) faced two tough choices in her first episode of the 2005 series Commander in Chief: what to wear and who to invade. As she drove to Congress to make her first address, her youngest daughter spilled grapejuice on her blouse. Using her assistant’s scarf to cover up the stain, she could then move on to the next challenge.